


Don't Lawyers Feel Love Too?

by AssassinOfRome



Category: Legally Blonde - All Media Types, Legally Blonde - Hach/O'Keefe/Benjamin
Genre: Emmett has a big crush, F/M, Falling In Love, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-24
Updated: 2019-08-24
Packaged: 2020-09-25 21:14:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,147
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20378224
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AssassinOfRome/pseuds/AssassinOfRome
Summary: Written for the prompt: the moment Emmett realized he was in love with Elle"No, Emmett didn’t believe in love, and had taken the time to craft a perfect wall of logic to keep anyone who challenged that out.It was a shame, then, that Elle Woods had walked into his life like a pretty pink sledgehammer."





	Don't Lawyers Feel Love Too?

Emmett Forrest didn’t believe in love at first sight. Hell, he wasn’t even sure if he believed in love.

He’d seen with his own eyes the damage infatuation could do – remembered well the sight of his mother bent over the kitchen sink sobbing as his father shifted the last of his belongings out of their suddenly echoing home. In his studies, he’d read about enough rotten cases, of beaten wives and murdered husbands and jealous lovers, that the whole concept of love made his stomach clench. If nothing else would, trawling through the grim details of Callahan’s marriage, with its countless affairs and assaults, had killed any romantic notions in him.

So no, Emmett didn’t believe in love, and had taken the time to craft a perfect wall of logic to keep anyone who challenged that out.

It was a shame, then, that Elle Woods had walked into his life like a pretty pink sledgehammer.

At first, she seemed to validate everything he’d told himself; another spurned woman desperately trying to win back a long-gone lover. Not that her being a woman had anything to do with it – she just reminded him too much of his mother in that respect. Paulette too had been an example of this, barely able to talk to her ex without shaking, despite her usually exuberant personality and supportive friends. Neither she nor Elle nor anyone else deserved that level of heartache.

But Emmett had to admit, that wasn’t all he saw. Elle was loved almost as much as she was detested by their Harvard class, but Emmett could see the balances tilting in her favour. There was just this sweetness to her that made every encounter with her like birdsong, gentle and calming and safe. She remembered birthdays and the names of pets and people’s favourite colours. She took the time to know people deeply, even people who hated her. She loved them as dearly as close friends, even when they sneered.

With the people who liked her, she was even more stunning. Emmett had watched her talk for hours with Paulette about the minutia of haircare and both women seemed so excited and inspired by each other’s presence. Elle on the phone to the Delta Nus was even brighter – she managed to coax even the shyest of their group into wild happy laughter.

And with him? The first time she smiled at him – really smiled, not just that polite little grin she gave in class – a small part of him knew he’d never be the same.

Initially he tried to ignore it – to disregard the way his stomach flipped whenever she laughed or scrunched up her nose when she was thinking. He certainly didn’t feel his cheeks getting warm every time she got an answer right in class and wriggled in her seat with excitement, flashing him a thumbs up with her eyes shining. If he smiled back, it was simply benevolent scholarly admiration.

But before he could even blink, she’d shimmied her way into his heart and painted its walls pink. He wasn’t even quite sure what moment tipped him over the edge.

There had certainly been times where he’d felt fond of her, and when she’d made him smile so much his cheeks ached. The first time she stood up for herself against Warner in class, Emmett had been ready to jump on the desk and start singing her praises. When she had very excitedly pointed to the menorah she had tucked amongst her Christmas decorations with his name proudly written on in puffy pink paint, he’d had to blink away tears of happiness – it had been so long since he’d celebrated the holidays and just thinking of the menorah powered him through some truly awful shifts. And when she’d handed her resume into Callahan for the internship, well, he couldn’t have been prouder.

But love? Love was different. If he had to pin down the first moment he realised he wanted to spend the rest of his life with this strange sparkling woman, he’d have to point to Rufus’ rescue. When Elle had asked him to accompany Paulette and herself to Dewey’s trailer, he’d been sceptical; as much as it was useful to have a real life legal example to study from, negotiating custody for a bulldog seemed like a stretch. But she’d been so passionate and invested that he couldn’t turn her down, and seeing how affectionately she treated Paulette, he felt the now familiar warmth spreading through him. She really was a wonderful woman.

And then she had done the extraordinary – with only the slightest prompting from Emmett, she’d used her brilliant brain and constructed an entire legal defence in minutes. She hadn’t balked in the face of Dewey’s rage and confusion, but had quickly negotiated the situation, freeing Rufus with a whirlwind of words. As they trekked back to the car, Paulette had sobbed tears of joy, and Elle had cried along with her.

If Emmett could have held onto that one memory, it would have been enough to sustain him for a lifetime, but as he’d come to expect from Elle, she managed to do one better. Not only had her compassion and kindness won the day, it had motivated her to act.

“Hey Em?” She’d asked a little while later over congratulatory smoothies. “Was that… law? That we just did with Paulette? Because it felt amazing.”

“What, winning a case?” He said, taking a sip. The drink was far sugarier than anything he’d normally drink, but it was refreshing and he liked seeing Elle smile when he’d matched her order. “I guess it is pretty satisfying.”

“That’s not what I meant. We’re like… fighting for the underdog, you know? Looking after people who can’t look after themselves - using our studies to take care of those who need us.” She smiled, puffing her chest out a little as she did so. “If helping people feels this good, then it’s all I want to do for the rest of my life.”

And that’s when Emmett Forrest fell head over heels for Elle Woods. She was brilliant and beautiful, charming and clever. But more than that – more than anything – she was kind to her core. Kinder than anyone else at Harvard. Kinder than he was certainly; as much as he enjoyed helping people, he’d ran to law as a stable job with a solid paycheck. But all she wanted to do was improve the lives of others. To make everything a little brighter than when she found it.

They had returned to their drinks and their conversations and eventually the topic changed to the internship or their evening plans. But from that moment on, all Emmett could see in every bounce of Elle’s step, or flip of her hair, was her urge to help.

And if that was love, he’d grab it with both hands.


End file.
